With all these reports of these idiot, evil clowns running chasing people in the woods with knives, I was wondering if those of you who make a living off of clowning have seen this take a negative effect on your bookings? I would certainly not wish that on anybody, but my head tells me that these bad apples are spoiling it for everybody and giving the good guys a bad name. What is the truth on the situation?

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Posted by: Anand Khalsa (Oct 11, 2016 02:27PM)

Here's an interesting and thoughtful piece from Vox on the clown craze - they touch on how it's effecting the clown community: [YouTube]ggS6LBhH7Fo[/YouTube]

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Posted by: daffydoug (Oct 11, 2016 05:29PM)

So then I was right. I
t HAS affected professional clowns and subsequently their income. Sad! So very, very sad!

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Posted by: daffydoug (Oct 24, 2016 08:34AM)

I heard a news story on FOX news recently. They were interviewing people who do professional clowning and do it for a living. And they confirmed the sad news. These evil clowns are making us all look bad and bookings have dropped like a rock.

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Posted by: bwinn (Mar 4, 2017 06:55PM)

I hate it that a bunch of idiots trying to scare people ruins the way people percept clowns.

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Posted by: Dollarbill (Sep 9, 2017 11:10PM)

With all due respect to you clowns ( ha! ). :). I personally think clowns are creepy before all of the scarry hype. Not all, but a lot of kids since I was a kid in mid 70's were very weary and or scarred of clowns including me. I think in today's society clowns are looked at as a little weird. That being said, scarry clown advertisements can't be helping you guys/ gals. Jus' sayin'. $.02

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Posted by: Russo (Sep 21, 2017 09:02AM)

How about a class action law suit against - producers of "it" - just a thought L-O-L

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Posted by: cbguy (Feb 9, 2018 11:13AM)

Dump the clown make-up and re-invent yourself. The three stooges, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, laurel & Hardy, Fatty Arbuckle...they were all clowns and none of them wore make-up.

A modern day example would be Jim Carey, John Bulshi, Dana Carvey, Chris Farley, Arsen or my favorite Avner Eisenberg.

A clown is born from the inside out, not the other way around. You can still be a clown and get plenty of work, without putting on the make up.

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Posted by: thomhaha (Feb 18, 2018 01:46PM)

Cbguy, your point is valid but the examples don't quite fit: the Stooges, Keaton, Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, Fatty Arbuckle DID wear makeup. All of them came from Vaudeville and used stage makeup (Chaplin's mustache and wig were glued on) and their costumes were also stylized.

They represent a different style of clowning than circus clowns. Most circus clowning hearkens back tot he golden age of the circus, 1880's/1890's. And most of the "creepy clowns" are working within those circus-style motifs.

I think the creepy clowns may be doing clowns a favor: it's time to come into more contemporary cultural motifs. Instead of top hats and derbies we need to be working with baseball caps. Instead of frock coats and slacks we should be looking into jeans or workout gear.

I'll admit: it's hard for me. I like the Vaudevillian / silent film styles. But as our culture appropriates and changes previous symbols - like clowns - in ways that distort the way our work is precieved, then we need to change our work.

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Posted by: Dollarbill (Feb 18, 2018 09:58PM)

I think that is what cb is sayin'. Be original, create "you" not someone else. :)

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Posted by: C-suite magic (Jul 27, 2018 08:26AM)

I used to have a clown act but had to ditch it because the kids (and some adults) were terrified. It's almost embarrassing to say now but I turned the act into a Purple Dinosaur act with full costume. Then everyone wanted to hug! I left that one behind about 5 years ago to focus on corporate only. The experience with kids was more relevant to corporate work than I could have ever predicted!

The original IT hurt our business worse than any other single entity in decades.. I have a specific act for those scared of clowns and it seems to work pretty much every time.
I start out plain faced but in costume and start my show. After several especially interactive bits, I let the audience watch me transform. Yes, this is the one case I let them watch me put on my face. They already know the individual behind the make up and the make up becomes far less of an issue from there.

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Posted by: RiffClown (Dec 25, 2018 09:43PM)

[quote]On Sep 9, 2017, Dollarbill wrote:
With all due respect to you clowns ( ha! ). :). I personally think clowns are creepy before all of the scarry hype. Not all, but a lot of kids since I was a kid in mid 70's were very weary and or scarred of clowns including me. I think in today's society clowns are looked at as a little weird. That being said, scarry clown advertisements can't be helping you guys/ gals. Jus' sayin'. $.02 [/quote]

If you look at Clowning and COAI oaths, a real clown would never do anything to demean or hurt the image of clowning. Scary clowns aren't clowns, they are imposters destroying our image to build theirs.

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Posted by: Dollarbill (Dec 25, 2018 10:29PM)

[quote]On Dec 25, 2018, RiffClown wrote:
The original IT hurt our business worse than any other single entity in decades.. I have a specific act for those scared of clowns and it seems to work pretty much every time.
I start out plain faced but in costume and start my show. After several especially interactive bits, I let the audience watch me transform. Yes, this is the one case I let them watch me put on my face. They already know the individual behind the make up and the make up becomes far less of an issue from there. [/quote]

Although I am not a clown, this idea is genious <spelling> 👍👍

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Posted by: ed rhodes (Jan 2, 2019 08:15AM)

[quote]On Sep 21, 2017, Russo wrote:
How about a class action law suit against - producers of "it" - just a thought L-O-L [/quote]

I don’t think that would work, but even if you could, the producers of “It,”
(1990) would point to “Killer Klowns From Outer Space,” (1988) and say; “Go after them!”